Degree in Physics, 110/110 cum laude. Title of the thesis: "Studies for the development of a neural electronic prosthesis"; supervisors: prof. F.S. Pavone and prof. P. Fromherz. (University of Perugia, Italy, May 2001)

Research Experience

Present: Senior PostDoc in the group of Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob at the School of Physics and Astronomy in Tel Aviv University.

03/2007 – 02/2010: PostDoc in the group of Dr. Cossart at INMED, INSERM U29, Parc Scientifique de Luminy, Marseille (France)

02/2006 – 02/2007: PostDoc in the lab. of Dr. Hugh P.C. Robinson in the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge (UK).

03/2002 – 01/2006: Ph.D. student in the lab. of prof. Vincent Torre in the Neurobiology Sector of the International School for Advanced Studies (ISAS/SISSA), Trieste (Italy).

01/2000 – 01/2001: Trainee in the lab. of prof. Fromherz at the Department of Membrane and Neurophysics of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried (Germany)

Fellowships

Marie Curie Actions, FP7- Intra-European Fellowships (IEF); title of the project "Circuit-hubs"; period March 2008 – February 2010

Research Interests

One of the main challenges of modern neuroscience is to link structure and dynamics of neuronal circuit. This is now possible thanks to new advances in theoretical and experimental studies which allow to bridge structural, effective and functional connectivity of neuronal assemblies. Using a multi-disciplinary approach combining calcium imaging, multi-electrode recordings, optogenetics, immunohistochemistry, graph theory and complex system we aim at characterizing neural circuits of different complexity in different patho-physiological conditions. Our studies are carried on dissociated cultures of cortical and cerebellar neurons. We use neuronal cultures since they represent a more accessible and general model of self-organized circuits where the topological complexity can be controlled, spanning from small isolated neuronal islands of few ten of cells (finite networks) to engineered circuits with predefined architecture. We use a data analysis approach inspired by complex networks to characterize the functional connectivity of the circuits in the attempt to identify central nodes or mechanisms regulating neuronal network dynamics and synchrony. In collaboration with the team of dr. Cossart at INMED (Marseille, France) these studies are extended to hippocampal and cortical circuits in-vitro (acute slices) and in-vivo, where the intact intact architectures of the networks are preserved. Concerning neurodegenerative pathologies, we aim at identifying impaired circuit dynamics in cerebellar networks extracted from murine models of ataxia-telangiectasia (AT) and Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS), with special focus on the contribution of glial cells on global neuronal dynamics.

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The BrainBow project acknowledges the financial support of the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme within the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the European Commission, under FET-Open grant number: FP7-284772.